Rangers' invasion causes Lancashire train chaos

5:05pm Wednesday 14th May 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

Hundreds of passengers were left stranded at Preston, Chorley and Blackpool stations after the Rangers invasion - in the North West for last night's UEFA Cup Final in Manchester - disrupted their usually hassle-free commute to work.

Northern Rail laid on buses to ferry workers to their destination and increased the number of carriages it was operating on its services between Blackpool and Buxton - a route which brings dozens of commuters from the seaside resort into Preston.

Virgin Rail and First TransPennine Express also doubled the number of carriages on its services between Glasgow and Manchester and operated a priority boarding scheme ensuring that those who had pre-booked tickets were guaranteed a seat at Preston.

A spokesman for Northern Rail said: "I think the sheer volume of Rangers fans has caught us all by surprise. I don't think any of us could predict that thousands of them would spend Tuesday night in Blackpool before getting the train to Manchester.

"Although our services would not normally be first choice for travel between Blackpool and Manchester, we strengthed our services to accomodate the extra passengers."

More than 100,000 fans were expected to travel down from Glasgow for the match and with hotels in and around Manchester fully booked, many chose Preston, Blackpool and parts of East Lancashire as the place to stay.